In dire need of some
energy, the Sharks got a boost from a couple of fresh
faces to turn a disastrous road trip into a wash in
Dallas on Monday night. Coming of a lackluster losses
in Detroit and Columbus, the Sharks parlayed the
hustle of two rookies making their NHL debuts to stun
the Dallas Stars 4-2 with three 3rd period goals.
Devin Setoguchi made his NHL debut a memorable one by
scoring two goals to lead the Sharks.

Struggling to generate any form of offense, the Sharks
were forced to call up Setoguchi and Lukas Kaspar from
Worcester on Sunday after placing Ryane Clowe and Rob
Davison on the injured reserve. The two youngsters
responded with a shot of energy that was contagious.

San Jose was forced to play catch up twice, but
responded with three unanswered goals in the 3rd
period. Mike Ribeiro staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead
midway through the 1st period, on a bang bang play in
front of the Sharks net. Ribeiro wrested home a
rebound from point blank range after Stars defenseman
Phillipe Boucher bounced a shot off Sharks goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov.

Joe Pavelski would answer less than two minutes later
on a wrap around play, after Stars netminder Marty
Turco overplayed a shot from Jonathan Cheechoo.
Pavelski grabbed Cheechoo's shot behind the net and
snuck the puck in around the left post after Turco
attempted to cutoff the right side of the net.

San Jose out-shot Dallas 16-10 in the opening period
and controlled the tempo, but could only muster the
Pavelski goal to enter the 1st intermission tied.

A fortuitous bounce would give the Stars back the
lead, 5 minutes into the 2nd period. Rookie Matt
Niskanen scored his 1st NHL goal by sending the puck
in on net from the blueline. The puck hit the stick
of Sharks defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, redirecting
into the Shark net.

Dallas would defend their lead for the first half of
the 3rd period, but Setoguchi and Steve Bernier went
to work. The rookie forward bagged his first NHL
tally on a gutsy feed from Joe Thornton at 11:53 of
the period. Thornton was fighting off a check while
stick handling behind the Stars net. After taking a
hit, Thornton began to fall to the ice, but he got the
pass off to Setoguchi, who was cutting to the net.
Setoguchi pumped a one-timer over Turco right should,
top shelf for the 2-2 tie.

Thornton and Setoguchi would team up on a similar play
less than three minutes later for Setoguchi's second
goal of the night. Positioning the identical place,
Thornton slid a backhanded pass between his skates to
Setoguchi, who once again cut through the slot to one
time a shot past Turco.

Bernier would cap off the goal scoring flurry with his
3rd goal of the season 17 second later. After the
faceoff trickled back into the Stars zone, Dallas
misplayed the puck along the right wing boards.
Bernier scooped up the loose puck then fired a shot
that slipped between Turco and the right post for the
4-2 lead.

The only drama that remained was if Setoguchi could
record the hat trick. The rookie came within inches
of that feat after the Stars pulled Turco for an extra
attacker. Setoguchi had the open net, but his shot
sailed wide to deny the trifecta.

Setoguchi did set a franchise record for most goals by
a player in his first game.

Game Notes:

Bernier came within an assist of recording his first
Gordie Howe hat trick. The Sharks forward squared off
with Brendan Morrow in the 1st period after the Stars
captain took offense to a hit Bernier laid on another
Dallas player. Douglas Murray and Todd Fedoruk also
squared off later in the game.

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